If We Must Die Claude Mckay Analysis

The poem begins with the speaker addressing his kinsmen telling them they need to avoid the fate of hogs.

During this summer there was a rise in hate crime race riots and overall violence towards the black. Though the harlem renaissance period was a time of thriving people and culture in the african american community prejudice was still very much active. If we must die by claude mckay is a sonnet written during the harlem renaissance period. To begin an analysis of the rhetorical and stylistic choices in if we must die by claude mckay it s important to first gain a brief understanding of its context.

If we must die was written as a response to what is now called the red summer of 1919. If we must die is a shakespearean sonnet written by the jamaican poet claude mckay in 1919. It is a poem of political resistance. If we must die by claude mckay is a rousing poem addressed to the black community advocating for courage and the will to fight back against oppression.

It was written in 1919 a time.